Collapsible clothes hanger



Oct. 26, 1965 R. BRODESSER 3,214,071

COLLAPS IBLE CLOTHES HANGER Filed June 10, 1963 IIIWSNTOE,

00041 a eooesaa United States Patent 3,214,071 COLLAPSIBLE CLOTHES HANGER Rudolf Brodesser, Mittere Gasse 22, Steyr, Austria Filed June 10, 1963, Ser. No. 286,617 6 Claims. (Cl. 223-89) This invention relates to a collapsible clothes hanger having shell-like shoulder supports, which may be used as a top and bottom, respectively, of a housing, an intermediate section, which is provided with a hanger device, and telescopically extensible arms, which are pivoted to the intermediate section and carry the shoulder supports. The known clothes hangers of this kind have the disadvantage that they can only be closed or made ready for use by various manipulations, which are more or less complicated, and that they are only suitable for relatively light garments.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate these disadvantages and to provide a clothes hanger which can be opened and closed with one manipulation and is suitable, if required, even for heavy garments, such as Winter coats.

The invention resides essentially in that the two shoulder supports are mounted on the tubular outer sections of the arms for a rotation through at least 180 and said outer sections are rotatably mounted on the inner sections of the arms for rotation through at least 180 when the clothes hanger is being extended and collapsed and that the shoulder supports can be connected with the aid of locking means to the hanger device to form a housing in the collapsed condition of the clothes hanger.

The invention and its advantages will be explained more fully with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which an illustrative embodiment is shown.

FIG. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, showing a partly extended clothes hanger and FIG. 2 is a side elevation showing the clothes hanger in the fully extend-ed condition.

The clothes hanger comprises a hanger device, which consists in the illustrative embodiment of an eye 6. The intermediate section 4 is secured by the connecting web 5 to the hanger device 6. A hook 8 is provided, from which heavy garments may be suspended to relieve the extended arms of part of the load. The intermediate section 4 has two pivots, on which the inner sections 14 of the two arms are pivotally mounted. The sections 14 are suitably made from the solid and tubular outer sections 9 are rotatably and slidably guided on the sections 16 It will be understood that the displacement of the sections 9 is limited by stops, not shown. The shoulder supports are rotatably and slidably mounted on the sections 9 of the two arms.

When the clothes hanger is collapsed, both shoulder supports 1 form a closed housing, which accommodates the hanger device 6 and the parts 9 and 14. Detents 2 are formed on the inside of the shoulder supports and are associated with stops 7 carried by the hanger device 6. In the collapsed condition of the clothes hanger, the detents 2 interengage with the stops 7 to prevent an unintended opening of the housing.

When the clothes hanger is in position for use, the arms, more particularly the inner sections 14 thereof, rest on bracket portions 15 of the intermediate section 4. In order to avoid an undesirably high bending moment in the case of heavy garments, a thrust rod 10 is provided between the two shoulder supports 1. This thrust rod con sists of two parts, which are interconnected by an articulated joint 13. Loops 11 are carried by the thrust rod 10 at its ends and can be engaged with hooks 3 of the shoulder supports. Besides, thrust pieces 12 are carried by the thrust rod 10 at its ends to ensure a perfect transmission of force.

To extend the clothes hanger, the hooks 3 are pulled to open the two shoulder supports 1 and pull them apart. This causes the sections 9 to slide on the sections 14 and the shoulder supports to slide on the sections 9 in an outward direction. During this operation the hanger device 6 is automatically turned downwardly in the shoulder supports 1 and the tubular section 9 through so that the clothes hanger is now ready for use. For heavy garments, the thrust rod 10 may be engaged with the hooks 3, after it has been unfolded from its collapsed position to its extended position.

Without departing from the scope of the invention, numerous embodiments are possible. For instance, the illustrated hanger device may be replaced by a book.

It is apparent from the drawing that the shoulder supports 1 have a convex side and a concave side. When the clothes hanger is extended, the convex side of the shoulder supports faces upwardly so that these supports can properly perform their shoulder-supporting function. The concave sides of the shoulder supports 1 complement each other in the collapsed position of the clothes hanger to form a housing, in which said concave sides face each other and define a cavity accommodating the hanger device 6, the outer sections 9, the inner sections 14, the detents 2 and the catches 7.

It is also apparent from the drawing that the bracket portions 15 are arranged to support the inner sections 14 in a position in which these sections are at an obtuse angle to the longitudinal direction of the hanger device 6 and at an angle to an imaginary line which connects the pivots for the inner sections 14. As a result, the longitudinal axes of the inner sections 14 are not aligned in the extended position of the clothes hanger so that the hanger device 6 is held against a rotation about these axes. When the shoulder sections are raised until the inner sections 14 are aligned with the imaginary line connecting their pivots, these inner sections will become rotatable in the tubular outer sections 9 and the hanger device will swing downwardly under the action of gravity through 180 about the common longitudinal axis of the inner sections 14 into a position in which the hanger device can be conveniently accommodated in the housing formed by the shoulder supports 1 closing in. The inner sections 14 will also become aligned with the imaginary line connecting their pivots when the shoulder sections are swung apart from their closed position. This will also enable the hanger device 6 to swing under gravity through 180 to facilitate the instantaneous change from the collapsed position to the extended position.

Also, it is apparent from the drawing that the shoulder supports '1 have surface portions facing inwardly in the axial direction of the thrust rod 10 and engaged by the thrust pieces 12 in the extended position of the clothes hanger. As a result, these thrust pieces form locking means cooperating with said shoulder pieces to prevent a rotation of one section of the rod 10 relative to the other about the joint 13.

I claim:

1. A collapsible clothes hanger, which comprises an intermediate section, a hanger device carried by said intermediate section, two arms, each of which has an inner section pivoted to said intermediate section, and an outer section telescopically mounted on said inner section for rotation through at least 180 about the axis of said inner section, said clothes hanger further comprising two shoul der supports, each of which is slidably and rotatably mounted on one of said outer sections for rotation through at least 180 about the axis of said outer section, said clothes hanger being adapted to assume a collapsed position in which said shoulder supports are retracted relative to said outer sections and said outer sections are retracted relative to said inner sections and the latter extend substantially parallel to said hanger device on opposite sides thereof, said shoulder supports having a convex side and a concave side and being adapted to complement each other in said collapsed position to form a housing, in which said concave sides face each other and define a cavity accommodating said hanger device and said inner and outer sections, said clothes hanger further comprising first locking means carried by said shoulder supports and second locking means carried by said hanger device, said first and second locking means being arranged to releasably interlock in said collapsed position.

2. A clothes hanger as set forth in claim 1, in which said shoulder supports are extended relative to said outer sections, said outer sections are extended relative to said inner sections and said inner sections extend from said hanger device towards both sides thereof at an obtuse angle relative to the longitudinal direction of said hanger device, said clothes hanger comprising a thrust rod detachably connected to said shoulder supports, said thrust rod comprising two sections, an articulated joint about which one of said sections is pivotally movable relative to the other section of the rod within a positively limited range of 180, when said thrust rod is removed from said shoulder supports, and locking means carried by said thrust rod and cooperating with said shoulder supports to prevent a pivotal movement of said one section of said thrust rod relative to the other section of said thrust rod about said joint when said rod is connected to said shoulder supports.

3. A collapsible clothes hanger as set forth in claim 2, in which said shoulder supports facing inwardly in the axial direction of said thrust rod and said locking means carried by said rod comprise thrust pieces engaging said inwardly facing surface portions.

4. A collapsible clothes hanger as set forth in claim 1, which comprises pivot means connecting said inner sections to said intermediate section for pivotal movement in a common plane and in which said hanger device extends at least partly outside of said plane.

5. A collapsible clothes hanger as set forth in claim 4, in which said hanger device extends partly in said plane.

6. A collapsible clothes hanger as set forth in claim 1, which comprises spaced apart pivot means pivotally connecting said inner sections to said intermediate section and stop means arranged to limit the pivotal movement of said inner sections relative to said intermediate section from said collapsed position to said extended position so that in said extended position said inner sectional extend at an angle to an imaginary line connecting said pivot means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 395,884 l/89 Donaldson 22394 611,669 10/98 Wigtil 223-89 1,370,713 3/21 Strand 223-89 1,515,600 11/24 Kornas 223-88 X 2,663,470 12/53 Albert 22394 FOREIGN PATENTS 549,473 4/32 Germany. 487,288 6/ 38 Great Britain.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A COLLAPSIBLE CLOTHES HANGER, WHICH COMPRISES AN INTERMEDIATE SECTION, A HANGER DEVICE CARRIED BY SAID INTERMEDIATE SECTION, TWO ARMS, EACH OF WHICH HAS AN INNER SECTION PIVOTED TO SAID INTERMEDIATE SECTION, AND AN OUTER SECTION TELESCOPICALLY MOUNTED ON SAID INNER SECTION FOR ROTATION THROUGH AT LEAST 180* ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID INNER SECTION, SAID CLOTHES HANGER FURTHER COMPRISING TWO SHOULDER SUPPORTS, EACH OF WHICH IS SLIDABLY AND ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON ONE OF SAID OUTER SECTIONS FOR ROTATION THROUGH AT LEAST 180* ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID OUTER SECTION, SAID CLOTHES HANGER BEING ADAPTED TO ASSUME A COLLAPSED POSITION IN WHICH SAID SHOULDER SUPPORTS ARE RETRACTED RELATIVE TO SAIDOUTER SECTIONS AND SAID OUTER SECTIONS ARE RETRACTED RELATIVE TO SAID INNER SECTIONS AND THE LATTER EXTEND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID HANGER DEVICE ON OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF, SAID SHOULDER SUPPORTS HAVING A CONVEX SIDE AND A CONCAVE SIDE AND BEING ADAPTED TO COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER IN SAID COLLAPSED POSITION TO FORM A HOUSING, IN WHICH SAID CONCAVE SIDES FACE EACH OTHER AND DEFINE A CAVITY ACCOMMODATING SAID HANGER DEVICE AND SAID INNER AND OUTER SECTIONS, SAID CLOTHES HANGER FURTHER COMPRISING FIRST LOCKING MEANS CARRIED BY SAID SHOULDER SUPPORTS AND SECOND LOCKING MEANS CARRIED BY SAID HANGER DEVICE, SAID FIRST AND SECOND LOCKING MEANS BEING ARRANGED TO RELEASABLY INTERLOCK IN SAID COLLAPSED POSITION. 